Two sub-Neptunes around the M dwarf TOI-1470

Abstract

Aims. A transiting planet candidate with a sub-Neptune radius orbiting the nearby (d = 51.9 ± 0.07 pc) M1.5 V star TOI-1470 with a period of ∼2.5 d was announced by the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which observed the field of TOI-1470 in four different sectors. We aim to validate its planetary nature using precise radial velocities (RVs) taken with the CARMENES spectrograph. Methods. We obtained 44 RV measurements with CARMENES spanning eight months between 3 June 2020 and 17 January 2021. For a better characterization of the parent star activity, we also collected contemporaneous optical photometric observations at the Joan Oró and Sierra Nevada Observatories, and we retrieved archival photometry from the literature. We used ground-based photometric observations from MuSCAT and also from MuSCAT2 and MuSCAT3 to confirm the planetary transit signals. We performed a combined photometric and spectroscopic analysis by including Gaussian processes and Keplerian orbits to simultaneously account for the stellar activity and planetary signals. Results. We estimate that TOI-1470 has a rotation period of 29 ± 3d based on photometric and spectroscopic data. The combined analysis confirms the discovery of the announced transiting planet, TOI-1470 b, with an orbital period of 2.527093 ± 0.000003 d, a mass of 7.32-1.24+1.21M, and a radius of 2.18-0.04+0.04R. We also discover a second transiting planet that was not announced previously by TESS, TOI-1470 c, with an orbital period of 18.08816 ± 0.00006 d, a mass of 7.24-2.77+2.87M, and a radius of 2.47-0.02+0.02R. The two planets are placed on the same side of the radius valley of M dwarfs and lie between TOI-1470 and the inner border of its habitable zone.